Flaming Red
by StormDreamCloud
Summary: We heard the story from Aranea but not from the point of view of Latula. If she was the Knight of Mind, why couldn't she protect him?


_You and I are still flaming red._

I liked to look at Meulin's notebook, which she carried everywhere with her. She had transferred all of her ships into the book and me and Mituna's names were written over and over again in red. I smiled and shook my head; she would never change but I didn't mind. I liked her and she was sort of like a moirail to me I suppose. I often hung out with her while Kurloz and Mituna would play video games.

We usually chilled at my hive; me, Meulin, Kurloz and Mituna. Kurloz would be still as he skillfully pressed the buttons on the controller while Mituna would twist his body this way and that while yelling at the TV screen. Meulin and I would talk while the boys played their games. I often glanced at Mituna, smiling. I loved him and I just adored him. Every time I looked towards him, I would catch Meulin giggling at me.

It was a quiet night when it all changed; none of us saw it coming. Kurloz and Meulin were leaving my hive and Mituna was going to let his lusus know that he would be spending the night with me.

"I'll be right back, ok babe?" Mituna kissed me on the cheek.

"Ok," I giggled and blushed.

"It was fun Latula," Kurloz waved and smiled. "See you around,"

"Bye!" Meulin grinned as she held onto Kurloz' arm.

I watched them leave then sat down on the door step to wait for Mituna to return. It was a calm and peaceful night outside, a soothing atmosphere. Closing my eyes, I breathed in the fresh, cool air. I had a good life; I had Mituna and a couple of great friends. What more could I ask for?

"Latula!" I heard Mituna's voice.

Mituna lived very close to me so his quick return was no surprise to me. I opened my eyes and stood up.

"Hey babe," I stretched out my arms to hug him.

"Missed me?" he accepted my hug.

"Of course!"

He dipped me down for a kiss and I giggled as he planted kisses all over my face. I grabbed his shoulders and pushed him down. We ended up rolling around in the dirt, making out. Soon, we lay on our backs, looking up at the stars while holding each other's hands.

"Hey, look," Mituna pointed at the sky.

"Hmm?" I tried to look at what he was pointing out.

"Made ya look!"

"Hey!" I laughed and I lightly punched him on the shoulder.

"Haha, you're just mad that you fell for such a simple trick,"

It felt so right; to be with the person I loved and I would do anything for. I wished that this moment would last forever.

"Hey, 'tuna?" I turned to him.

"Yeah, 'tulip?" he cocked his head at me.

"I love you,"

"I love you too,"

We leaned towards each other for a kiss but before our lips met, a loud honking noise made us jump. It was so loud that my eardrums felt like they were going to explode. Mituna and I covered our ears in an attempt to tune out the horrific noise.

"What was that?!" I yelled.

"I think it came from over there!" Mituna pointed to the forest of brain trees.

"'Tuna, wait!" I dashed after him. "You can't just run off like that!"

Mituna skidded to a halt and I bumped into him. I looked at what made him stop so suddenly. It was Kurloz and Meulin. Meulin was on the ground sobbing and in one stride, I made my way to Kurloz and grabbed him by the collar.

"What did you do to her?!" I demanded.

"'tulip!" Mituna loosened my grip on Kurloz' shirt.

I let go and turned to Meulin.

"Are you ok?" I asked.

"I can't… I can't… I can't…" she kept repeating.

A noise made me turn around; it was Kurloz running and Mituna was going after him.

"Hey!" I shouted.

I lifted Meulin up and supported her on my shoulder. I grabbed her notebook off the ground and went towards the direction that I saw the boys head off to. I could hear Kurloz screaming and howling with Mituna yelling at his moirail to calm down.

I found them in a clearing facing each other. Kurloz' eyes were glowing and he was howling in rage. Mituna ran up to him to calm him down but he was only pushed away. I easily let Meulin down, who had lost consciousness at that point and ran to Mituna.

"What's going on?!" I yelled over the deafening roars.

"I don't know!" he shouted back. "But he won't calm down, no matter what I do! I've never seen him like this before!"

I looked over at Kurloz who was roaring even louder now and pounding his fists onto the ground. A black aura began to rise from him and I gasped. What was going on? Next to me, I saw Mituna clear the hair out of his eyes.

"Mituna, no!" I screamed.

Even though Mituna has psychic powers, he had yet to learn how to fully control them. If it got out of hand, he could be in great danger; the only one who could stop him was his lusus. I ran up to him and tried to stop him but he pushed me away, hard. I landed on the ground near Meulin. But before I could get back on my feet, a combination of blinding red and blue light nearly blinded me. If it weren't for my glasses, I think I really would have lost my sight. I heard myself yelling at Mituna to stop who was obviously in pain.

I pulled out a knife that I kept in a small pocket on the side of my boot. I positioned it over my heart but as quickly as it started, it all ended. Mituna was on the ground, limp and unconscious while Kurloz was on his knees, breathing heavily. I dropped the knife and ran towards my lover. I called his out his over and over again as I desperately tried to revive him. Kurloz dragged himself towards us and I grasped Mituna closer to my chest.

"Stay away from him!" I cried out.

"I'm so sorry," he faintly whispered before collapsing on the floor.

…

Luckily, Porrim and Kankri were nearby and came to investigate. They helped me carry my friends to Porrim's hive where they could be treated. Meulin woke up the next day and to our horror, she could not hear a sound.

"Loud noise!" she said louder than necessary. "Ears hurt!"

She spoke in small sentences because she was still disoriented. It was also in a fashion in which she was way too loud due to her being unaware of the volume of her own voice. Mituna's and Kurloz' respective lususes came to collect them and return them to their own hives. I spent most of my time in Mituna's hive so I could be there when he woke up.

Mituna's lusus would leave meals for me and though I appreciated it, I hardly touched it. I couldn't eat and I couldn't sleep. I had to stay by my lover's side, awake and alert, so when he woke up, I could get him anything that he needed. If I had more time to go godtier as Knight of Mind, I could've saved him but I couldn't. my desperate attempt to commit suicide so I could go godtier had failed.

A week later, Kurloz woke up. According to Kankri, upon regaining consciousness, he ran out of his hive and now Meulin was desperately searching for him.

"Something must have triggered him-," Kankri started.

"SHUT UP!" I grabbed the nearest object, a book, and threw it at him; it missed but I didn't care.

"Excuse me, but-,"

"Kankri," Porrim warned, shutting him up.

The next time I saw Kurloz was when he was found by Meulin, who convinced him to come back, came to see Mituna. I grabbed the same book that I had thrown at Kankri and threw it at him. Meulin squealed in fright and hid behind her matesprite. It him in the face but he didn't fall back although he was obviously in pain. Angrily, I lunged at him but Porrim pulled me back.

"Calm down!" she tried to soothe me.

"No!" I twisted my body around, trying to escape from Porrim's strong grip.

Although, Meulin couldn't hear, she sensed my anger and clung to Kurloz' shirt. He had bags under his eyes and it looked like he was crying. I kept trying to swing my fists at him but Porrim wouldn't let me go.

"Let! Me! Go!" I grit my teeth.

Suddenly, there was a loud thud that made me jump. I turned around and saw Mituna on the floor, conscious and trying to get up.

"Mituna!" I tore away from Porrim, who let me go.

"Huh?" he looked up at me, confused.

"Thank god you're ok!" I embraced him, relief.

Kurloz walked up towards us and knelt down in front of Mituna.

"Mituna," he softly said.

He answered in some gibberish and I gasped. My worst fear seemed to have come true; brain damage. Mituna's lusus loomed over us and picked him up.

"Daddy!" Mituna giggled.

"He's-?" I asked, shaking.

With a nod, he lay Mituna back down. We all knew what it meant and none of us even had to tell Meulin what was going on. I crumpled to the floor and began to sob. Porrim sat next to me and tried to console me. Mituna cocked his head at me and patted me on the head.

"No sad," he grinned. "No cry,"

I heard Meulin squeal and the sound of a door slamming; Kurloz had run off again. I wiped away my tears and took Mituna's hand.

"No sad," I repeated. "No cry,"

…

I watched Mituna try to do an ollie on the ramp we had built together when we were 3 sweeps old. He fell flat on his face and I rushed over to help him up.

"Heh, thanks Tulip," he smiled.

"No problem," I smiled back.

He had started call me 'Tulip' because he found 'Latula' a bit too difficult for him to say and he preferred it to ''tula'. He did attain some brain damage but he was doing his best to be his old self. He tried to pick up the rad moves that he used to execute so smoothly and easily. It wasn't easy for him but we all tried to help as much as we could. The old Mituna was gone and it broke our hearts but it really hit Kurloz hard. He had sewn his lips together and refused to make another sound.

Mituna didn't understand why his moirail sewed his mouth shut; he didn't even remember what happened. He also began to speak louder than usual due to his disorientation, which unlike Meulin's, was permanent. Our overall relief was that he was alive and that he remembered us all. Kurloz was still his moirail and I was still his matesprit. I smiled at my lover as I helped him up.

But it was ok because he and I were still flaming red.


End file.
